Maybe
by Hopeful Writer
Summary: Harry and Denis set off to the trophy case in the hopes of finding a trophy with Mr. Creevey on it. They never imagine to find something shocking about James Potter's past.


Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter. If I said that, would you believe me?

A/N – I was talking to my friend, EeyoreP, and were shooting story ideas and such back and forth and I got inspired. I don't quite no how because there were no new ideas, but I did. Before I go on, I'd like to remind everyone that it says nowhere in the books that James Potter was a seeker nor does it say that he was in Gryffindor. And this is mostly EeyoreP's thought. I just put it into a story.

This is about Harry learning about his past, and his father's past, and he's learning some things he doesn't want to learn. And only Severus understands. No, this isn't a Severus/Harry romance, although I'd be one to do that. It's almost like a friendship fic, but it's almost more like a father/son bond (the father Harry never had and the son Severus never had). Oh, yeah, and Denis is there too. He's sad, but this helps make him feel a little better about a loss he's had.

Shout outs to Dreamer4, Dark Gamer, Light Gamer, Knight, SaturnsChild, EvilTenchi, Galassos Gal 124, PhoniexChild, TogetherAgain, Wolfie, ArchangelUK, Arylwren, Digicowboy, Blackout12, Phire Phoenix, Authormon, alfogamer2, Insane Friend 02, sweetchick08079, Takari's Baybee, Immia, AlexPG13, DJ Clue, and shadow2k. Dedication to EeyoreP for inspiration.

**__**

Maybe

By: Hopeful Writer

Harry Potter sat in the Gryffindor common room in silence. It was New Years' Eve and the tower was empty. Only a few first and second years littered the other side of the room, playing chess or Exploding Snap. Harry ignored them. Denis and Colin Creevey sat nearby, both rather depressed, unusual for such cheerful kids. Harry had learned that their father had passed away and they couldn't attend the funeral. They hadn't gone home for fear of what they would see, or wouldn't see rather.

Dinner came and went, and the three didn't move. Finally Colin, bored of sitting and doing nothing, joined the kids playing games. He seemed happier and even laughed a few times. Denis didn't move, except to glare at his brother's happiness.

Hermione and Ron had both gone home for the holidays, and Harry ached without them. He was bored and lonely and even their frequent letters didn't entertain him enough.

"Harry?" Denis's soft voice broke his thoughts. "I'm going down to see if I can get something to eat. It's New Years' Eve, no time to be upset. Come with me?" It was a request, not an order.

"All right." Harry followed the younger boy out the portrait hole, where the Fat Lady bid them farewell and warned them not to be late. "We'll try," Harry promised, earning a reproachful look and another warning.

Denis didn't talk much, much different than his usual incessant chatter. "Are you okay, Denis?" Harry asked softly.

There was a small smile from the other, one that stretched only to his lips. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "I'm okay. It hurts, but it's nothing I can't handle." He squared his shoulders and put on a confident air, letting a mischievous twinkle enter his eyes. "Hey, let's forget dinner and go exploring. It's before curfew. Maybe it'll be fun."

Harry was surprised to see this behavior from the normally rule-abiding Denis. He nodded, feeling a small grin grow. "I'm not really hungry anyway," he decided as they walked past the Great Hall and the kitchen. 

"Let's check out the trophy case," Denis suggested, unable to keep an edge of excitement out of his voice. "My mum told me that my dad has a trophy in here somewhere."

Harry glanced at the second-year in puzzlement. "You've been here for a year and a half and you've never gone to the trophy case? Blimey, Denis, let's go already." The boy laughed, a relieving sound for his sixteen-year-old companion.

Denis approached the trophy case nervously, almost afraid that his mum was lying. The two combed through the trophies for a little while before Denis let out a squeak of excitement. "Here it is, Harry! My father was seeker for the Gryffindor House! And a star at that. Look here. It lists all the seekers throughout the ages on this plaque. Hey, you're on it already, Harry. Look." Denis grabbed the sleeve of Harry's robe and pulled him over. 

Harry studied the plaque with interest. Sure enough, he was on it. So was Charles Creevey. But something was out of place on it, something didn't feel right. Suddenly it clicked. Dumbledore had told him his father was a star seeker (A/N – my friend Dreamer4 will beg to differ, but we'll say it's true, for the sake of the story). Why wasn't the name James Potter there?

"What's wrong?" Denis noticed Harry's smile fall.

"My dad's not on there. I know he was a seeker. Shouldn't he be there?"

Denis was intently studying the plaques for the other three houses. His smile faded and he paled suddenly. "H—Harry." The older boy turned towards him in question. "Look here. There's your dad's name."

Harry beamed at seeing **James Potter, seeker and captain, 50-6** (A/N – I have no idea how many games of Quidditch they play a year. I figure about 8 or so since there's only four houses. So 8x7... you get my logic. I don't know if it's right, though). Then he read the title of the plaque. It read: **Slytherin House Seekers**.

Harry's face turned a color similar to paper. His eyes narrowed until they were almost closed. His fists clenched instinctively. And all he thought was, _Why the hell did no one **tell** me?_

"Harry? You okay?" Denis was tugging on his sleeve firmly.

Harry turned to him, unseeing, and Denis shivered at the emptiness in his eyes. "Don't worry, Harry. You're dad was still a really great seeker. Slytherin won the Quidditch Cup a bunch of times when he was seeker. He led them to it. Why does it matter what house he was in if he was good? And he was still your father, and he obviously loved you and your mum very much, since he sacrificed his life for you." Denis nodded towards Harry's scar, and slowly, very slowly, Harry came back to reality.

"I'm not mad at my dad," he admitted. "I'm mad at everyone for not telling me. I have no doubt that most, if not all, the teachers in this school know what house my dad was in. I'm sick of them trying to protect me. I'm sure if I wasn't famous Harry Potter they would have told me."

Denis giggled. "If you weren't famous Harry Potter your dad would still be alive and you would know what house he had been in."

Harry glared at him, but couldn't resist smiling. "When did you get to be so smart?" he demanded.

Denis beamed. "I don't know why you haven't noticed. You've been really out of it recently. Hermione's been tutoring me and talking to me about books and magic and such. Turns out, I know more than she does. I've studied most of the curriculum up to seventh year, plus I've got a magical background. I could perform a Disarming spell by the time I was six and a full body-bind when I was nine." Denis could help the small, proud smile that crept into his eyes.

"You're right," Harry admitted. "I have been out of it. I didn't even know you and Hermione spoke, let alone learned together."

"Potter! Creevey! What are you doing out past curfew?" The cold, menacing voice of Severus Snape rang through the corridor. 

Harry glimpsed briefly at his watch. "It's not past curfew," he pointed out defiantly.

Severus checked his own pocket watch. "So it's not," he mused, trying to hide a small smile, rather unsuccessfully at that. "I suppose I'm just used to yelling at you for it, Potter."

Harry laughed. He couldn't help it. It was, after all, New Years' Eve. Denis grinned meekly, and even Severus smiled. "What are you looking at?" he asked, actually being civil. Harry would later learn that he was a bit tipsy from all the red wine he'd had at dinner.

Harry's smile faded, and Denis answered, "The plaques that list all the past seekers." Severus nodded understandingly.

Harry had a sudden thought. "Professor, you went to school with my dad. He was... he was in Slytherin."

Severus glowered. "Yes."

"But you hated him. And supposedly he hated you. And you hated Sirius. Aren't... aren't you supposed to be like family with the people in your house?"

Severus laughed, a cold, grating sound, a hollow laugh, humorless. "You don't always love your housemates," he told them. "Sit down, boys, I'll tell you a story."

Severus closed his eyes, remembering back. "Long ago, back when I was a first-year, eager to learn and nervous about all that awaited me, I met a boy named James Potter. He was kind when we first met. We became friends. We were sorted into the same house and we were happy. I was happy. You see, I'd never been happy before, never known what it meant to wake up in the morning with someone to see, someone who enjoyed my company as much as I enjoyed theirs. I should have known that good things were not to last.

"There were three other boys that shared our dorm. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. I didn't like any of them. Peter was lazy and ignorant. He never tried for anything, using the success of others to help himself. Sirius was awful. From day one we were like oil and water. He was cheerful and flirtatious, even at such a young age, while I was depressed and withdrawn. Remus would have been okay, if he hadn't spent so much time with Sirius.

"James began to spend hang out with Sirius more and more, often leaving me out of their fun because Sirius didn't like me. I began to drift away from James too, spending more and more of my time in the library. Because of that, I became better friends with the Ravenclaws, since they were always there. I met a girl named Lily. We talked often, and spent a lot of time together for many years.

"When I entered my fourth year, everyone had grown up... except me. I still had the boyish looks of a twelve-year-old. I looked younger and I acted younger than the other boys. But Lily still liked me.

"I finally worked up the nerve to ask her out, only to have my heart broken. She was already dating someone else: James Potter. I confronted him about it. We'd talked before, even after he became friendly with Sirius, and I'd confessed that I thought I was in love with Lily. He'd laughed, clapped me on the back, and congratulated me.

"I asked him why he'd done it, asked Lily out when he knew how I felt. I'll never forget that scene. 'I had to, Severus,' he'd insisted. 'I... I looked at her this year, she'd grown up so much, and I just had to. I fell in love with her too. I never noticed her before, but she's so much older this year.'

"I understood that he was dating her because of her looks. Eventually, and even I'll admit this, he loved her personality. But why couldn't Lily see that I loved that first, before I even noticed how she looked?"

"Did you ever ask her about it?" Denis demanded, breathless with anticipation, eating up the story.

Severus had almost forgotten he and Harry were still sitting there, hanging on his every word. He took a deep breath. "Yes. Once I did. We were in the library. 'Lily?' I asked. 'Why did you want to go out with James?' I know I sounded very young then, but she left me weak and vulnerable.

"She stared at me, almost not seeing me. 'Oh, Severus, he's perfect. He's handsome, smart, funny, a star seeker.'

"'What about nice or kind?' I'd demanded, not seeing the pain in her eyes from my harsh tone.

"'He... he's everything to me,' she'd insisted, but I sometimes wonder if she even believed herself. 

"I have no doubt that they were very much in love by the time you were born, Harry. And I have no doubt that they both loved you very much. But I will say that their reasons for dating are not what they should have been. If she had only given me a chance, maybe... maybe things would have been different. Maybe she would still have been alive."

"You stopped being a Death Eater when my mum died, didn't you?" Harry asked quietly, having not spoken in quite a while.

"Yes."

"Maybe you'd still be a Death Eater. Maybe Voldemort would have control of everything. Maybe I'd never have been born to stop him." Harry raised his arms and shrugged. "You can't keep saying maybe, Professor. Things happen for a reason, but if you're going to mourn over it for the rest of your life, you'll never be happy."

The red wine seemed to be wearing off. "Well, no one asked you, Potter," Severus told him harshly. "Go on back to your common room now."

Harry and Denis shrugged at each other, knowing the civil conversation was over. "Let's go," Harry agreed, helping Denis up as they sauntered off.

Severus checked his pocket watch. "Oh, Potter, Creevey." They turned back to him. "10 points from Gryffindor for being out past curfew." He strolled away.

Harry let out a tiny curse. "Who does he bloody think he is?" he raged.

Denis grinned. "Head of the Slytherin house, of course." He motioned for Harry to follow him and they made their way back to Gryffindor tower.

Harry sat in the common room for a long time, mulling over Severus's story. His father, a Slytherin. Apparently not all Slytherins became dark wizards. Or maybe darkness came in many shapes and forms. Maybe his father didn't go around killing people. Maybe he just broke hearts instead. For the first time in his life, Harry wondered if his father had done the right thing by dating his mum. If he hadn't, Harry may never have been born, but maybe Severus would have been a kinder man. And maybe he would have fought against Voldemort and defeated him. And maybe there would be no chance of him rising again.

Denis lay awake in his bed, unable to sleep. Everything Harry had to endure, everything Severus had to endure was in his head. It made the loss of his father a little easier. At least he'd gotten to experience life with his father, while Harry had never met his. Severus had never gotten the chance to be with Lily, which had been the greatest loss of his life. 

Severus sat in the dungeons, half-heartedly reading a book, but not really concentrating. He was thinking about what Harry had said. He should stop thinking about the maybes and start thinking about the present. Yes. Severus sighed with determination. Tomorrow he would stop being bitter and start making the students feel at home. He would want them to learn, instead of scolding them and intimidating them. He would call them by their first names, or at least a title and their last. After all, tomorrow was New Years, was it not? A day for resolutions.

Severus sighed again. And maybe tomorrow, just maybe, he would ask Minerva to join him in Hogsmeade for some butterbeer.

A/N – Wow. So much I never expected to put in. For all those who wonder, I make Denis smart because I think he's a cool little character, even though JKR hasn't really told us much about him. If he puts up with Colin as a brother, he's got to be okay. And the Severus/Minerva thing at the end... it just fit. Don't know why.

Please review. You know you want to. Actually, you probably don't, but who cares? Flame me then. I like getting reviews and I shrug off flames like raindrops, so go on. I have enough confidence in my writing to know when I should and shouldn't take a review seriously (plus, I've been on ff.net for quite some time now).

That's all for now. Thanks again to EeyoreP for this inspiration and I hope this isn't too like your story (I don't think it is). §--HW--§ (http://www.geocities.com/msbjewel and http://www.geocities.com/phoniexchild) 


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